Buffing-leather substitute and process of making the same



March 27, 1928. -1,663,954

R. B. RESPESS BUFFING LEATHER SUBSTITUTE AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 5. 1920 Patented Mar. 27,1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROLAND B. RE SPES S, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

RESPRO INC., 01 CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OI RHODE ISLAND.

BUFFING-LEATHER SUBSTITUTE AN P300258 OF MAKING THE sum.

Application filed June 5,

This invention relates to. a buifin leather substitute and the process for ma ing the same and its organization is particularly directed to an improvement in the invention described in my application for unwoven fabric and process for making the same, filed March 11th, 1919, Serial Number 282,018 as applied to the manufacture of very thin leather substitute.

It has heretofore been the practice to make leather bufling from very thin cuts from the surface of genuine leather, or from very thin splits of genuine leather coated with a surface dressing. Artificial leather bufiing has also been made from very thin sheeting or cheese cloth which is coated with a cellulose compound.

The purpose of my invention is to make a very thin sheet of buffing leather substitute composed of untwisted and unwoven cotton fibers for the backing thereof, with a surface coating of cellulose or other leather surface dressin which will penetrate into the matted fiber acking. The product produced by this process is very strong, and may thereforebe used in thin sheets. The product also will have the quality of being easily cemented to card board for book binding and the like, inasmuch as the fibrous backing gives a surface to which ordinary paste mixtures adhere readily.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation illustrating the various successive steps in the process herein described.

Fig. 2'is a fragmentary section substantially on the line 2- 2 of Fig. 1 showing the construction of the original hat or sheet of unspun fibres.

F i 3 is a similar section on the line 3-3 of Flg. 1 showing the hat or sheet after impre nation.

ig. 4 is .a similar section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 showing the hat or sheet after drying and with a coating of adhesive applied to one side thereof; 1

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 1 showing a composite sheet comprising the original bat combined with a web of textile fabric.

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1 showing the composite sheet as having been providedwith acoating of surface dressing upon the exposed surface of the bat; and

Fig. 7 is a section substantially on the line 1880. Serial No. 388,713.

The first step in the process consists in making a bat or sheet of unwoven, unspun fibers preferably of cotton, the operation being performed by a carding or garnetting machine of usual type such as is used in the manufacture of wedding, batting or felt. For the purpose of this invention it is desirable that this bat or sheet be formed of a plurality of distinct strata or layers superposed one on the other, so that the finished bat a plane or planes of cleavage intermediate its outer surfaces.

The next step is to pass the sheet roll of prepared batting to a saturating machine where itis impregnated with an adhesive agent, after which it is dried and pressed. In th1s step I prefer to pass the sheet to a conveying belt which asses between ressure rollers just after t e application 0 the adhesive agent to the fiber sheet. Therollers press the adhesive agent into the fibrous sheet. Next the sheet passes to a drying chamber where the solvent of the adhesive agent is evaporated and the dried sheet is" then pressed under tension.

The next step is to attach the sheet to a woven fabric. In this step the fiber sheet is coated with an adhesive a cut on oneside of the sheet and a woven fa ric sheet is similarly coated on one side'or surface and the two coated surfaces superimposed on each other and subjected topressure. I usually prefer to use a rubber compound containing vulcanizing agents as the adhesive agent and when it is used the product is subjected to heat and vulcanized. It is frequently de sired also to cement an untwisted fiber sheet to both sides of the woven fabric and in such case the same process is used for attaching the fiber sheet to both sides of the woven sheet. When the sheet is not to be made as a by-product to the double texture fabric as described and is used without attaching it to a woven sheet, an additional step may be to subject the sheet to a curing process, to further set the adhesive agent and if a rubber compound is used as the adhesive agent the sheet may be subjectedto heat and vulcanized. In some cases I may use the dried and pressed sheet without any curing procplates all usiial methods employed in coatingleather by hand, or by use of a knife as-1semployed in making artificial leather, or when a rubber surface dressing is desired-it may be coated under a knife or by impressing a thin 'jcoating of rubber compound on the surface on a calendar coating roll. If

the web of textile fabric is not employed for-- supporting the hat or sheet during the coating operation, both sides of the hat or sheet may simultaneously be coated with a suitable surface dressing.

Many methods are employed in coat ng leather or woven fabric, any one of which may be employed to secure a similar result in this product and Ido not limit myself to any one method for coating nor to any surface dressing. In employing a cellulose, I prefer to press or rub in the first coat of the dressing by passing the sheet between pressure rolls to press the coating into the fibrous surface, or pass the sheet under a knife and then to a friction roller where the coating element is frictioned into the fibrous surface, after which the succeeding coats of the dressing are applied under a knife. In

applying an oil dressing I prefer to first coat the fibrous sheet withseveral coats of cellulose compound and finish the, product with the oil dressing imposed on the cellulose dressing.

When the dressing is desired to be composed of rubber, several coats of rubber compound in liquid form may be imposed on the sheet under a knife, or one or more coats may be placed on the sheet by the knife coating method, and a finishing coat may be impressed to the rubber coated surface between calendar rolls. This product may be of any desired color and may be printed in one or more colors as rubber sheeting is printed, or it may he embossed in any design desired, after which the surface coating of rubber is vulcanized. When rubber is used for the surface dressing I prefer to use a rubber compound as my adhesive agent.

The next step is to strip the surface dressing and a part of the fibrous material in which it is embedded from the woven fabric, or if the woven fabric is not used then to split or cleave the fibrous sheet. .It will be found that the surface coating can be readily split from the laminated sheet, or the fiber sheet when coated on both, sides is easil split by startin the sheet to split by hand, and then attachihg the ends to wooden shells or paper cores which revolve in oppo- 1,eee,9a4 I to the board and will in any case retain the.

embossed design in the same manner that embossed leather buffing retainsits embossing.

In the accompanying drawings the steps constituting-the above process are illustrated diagrammatically. The numeral 1 indicates a roll of the sheet or hat of unspun fibers. This bat as previously stated consists of superposed strata B, B as indicated in Fig. 2 having a distinct'plane of cleavage b between its outer surfaces. This bat is brought into contact with the upper run 2 of an endless conveyor belt and a suitable liquid impregnating medium is fed from a hopper 3 onto the upper surface of the hat. The bat travels with the conveyor between pressure rolls 4 where the impregnating medium is' drying chamber may be such as to vulcanize the rubber solution. From the drying chamher the dried bat passes beneath a hopper 9 from which adhesive solution is fed'on to the upper surface of the bat. The bat then passes over a guide roller 10 and moves in substantially parallel relation to a web W of textile fabric- This web may conveniently be supplied from a roll 11 and is moved in a horizontal run 12 Where adhesive solution is distributed over its upper surface from the hopper 13. The web then passes down-' wardly as at 14 parallel to the run 15 of the bat, and the two are then brought into contact in passing beneath a roller 16 the ad hesive material forming a thin layer C uniting the bat and web. The composite sheet now passes between pressure rolls 17 and 18 which squeeze the bat and web into intimate contact and the composite sheet then passes into a .drying or vulcanizing chamber 19 having a heating coil 20. In passing through this chamber, the textile web is be neath the fibrous bat and on emerging from the chamber a suitable surface coating is applied to the upper face of the bat by means of a hopper 21 and a spreading knife If desired the composite sheet then passes beneath pressure rolls 23 and may then receive a further surface coatingor dressing from the hopper 24 and distributing means 25. If desired a further coat of surface dressing may be applied .by calendar rolls 27 one of which is .furnished with a film of dressing from a hopper'26. The composite sheet after thorough drying now passes about the roller 28 and between splitting rolls 29 and 30 from which point the textile web WV diverges from the layer of surface dressing indicated at S.

As the layer of surface dressing is pulled away from the web it carries with it one of the original layers or strata of the bat so that the layer of surface dressing has a stratum of unspun fibers adhering to and embodied in one of its surfaces. The web W having the remainder of the original bat ad- It is obvious that if any of the suggested variations of the process are to be practiced the apparatus for carrying it into effect as above described will be suitably modified.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim 1s:

1. That process of makin bufiing leather which comprises forming a at consisting of a plurality of separable layers of unspun fibers, impregnating the bat with adhesive, drying and pressing the bat under tension, coating one side of the bat with a rubber solution, vulcanizing the coating of rubber, and splitting the coated side of the bat from the other side to leave the vulcanized rubber coating with a very thin layer of fibers adhering to onelside of it.

2. That process of making bufling leather which comprises formin a bat consisting of a plurality of layers 0 unspun fibers, impregnating the bat with adhesive, treating the. bat to cause the adhesive to set, applying a surface dressing to one side of the bat, treating the bat to cause said dressing to set,

' and splitting the bat to separate the dressed side from the other side, thereby leaving the a surface dressing to one side of the bat, causing said dressing1 to solidify, splitting the dressed side of t e bat from the other side to leave the solidified dressing with a thin layer of fibers adhering to its'surface and embossing said dressing with its layer of adhering fibers.

t. That process of making bufiin leather which comprises making a bat o unspun fibers having a cleavage plane intermediate its outer surfaces impregnating the bat with adhesive, drying the bat, coating one side of the dried bat with adhesive, pressing the coated side of-the bat into contact with a textile web, coating the opposite side of the bat with a surface dressing, permitting the dressing to set, and separating that side of the bat which adheres to the web from the dressed side to leave a sheet of solidified dressing with a very thin fibrous layer adhering to its surface.

5. That process of making bufiing leather which comprises forming a bat consisting of a plurality of separable layers of uns un fibers, impregnating the bat with adhesive, drying it, coating one side of the bat with rubber solution, coating one side of a textile web with rubber solution, bringing the coated surfaces of the bat and web into contact, pressing the composite sheet, vulcanizing the composite sheet, coating the exposed face of the bat with a surface dressmg, causing the dressing to solidify, and splitting off the layer of solidified dressing with a thin stratum of adhering fibers from the composite sheet.

6. That process of making buifing leather which comprises forming a bat consisting of separable strata of unspun fibers, impregnating the bat with adhesive, drying the bat, uniting a textile web to one surface of the bat to form a composite sheet, coating the opposite surface of the bat with a surface dressing consisting of a solution of rubber, vulcanizing the sheet to solidify the rubber, and splitting the rubber coated side of the sheet from the remainder to form a layer of vulcanized rubber having a thin stratum of fibers adhering to one side thereof.

7. The herein described process of making sheet material which comprises preparing a non-woven fibrous bat by impregnating the same with a flexible bindin compound, and splitting the im regnated fi rous non-woven material to pro uce a sheet having a roughened binding face.

8. The herein described process of making artificial leather splits comprising preparing a hat of unwoven unspun fibres, impregnating said bat with an elastic binding agent whereby to coat the individual fibres thereof and consolidate them, splitting the impregnated bat so that the separation of the coated fibres adjacent to the plane of separation between the separating splits will produces.

roughened binding surface, and finishing one face of a leather.

9. The herein described process of making sheet material which comprises forming a base material of superposed layers of non- .woven fibrous material, impregnating with a flexible binding compound, and separating said base material to form sheets each having a roughened binding surface formed split so prepared to resemble by the separation of the contiguous impregnated fibrous layers. i

10. The herein described process of making sheet material which consists in preparing a bat of non-woven felted material, impregnatingsaid bat under pressure with a flexible plastic binding compound whereby to coat the fibres and consolidate them, dividing the impregnated and consolidated bat to form splits each having a roughened binding surface, and finishing one surface agent, the ends of certain of the fibres pro-' jecting from the planeof one face of the bat whereby said face is rendered rough.

13. Sheet material comprising a layer of unspun unwoven fibres impregnated with an elastic binding agent, said layer having a stratum of solidified surface dressing ad-.

hering directly to one of its faces, the opposite lface of the layer being fibrous and roug 14. A fabric comprising a bat of unspun, unwoven fibers impregnated with vulcanized rubber, and a layer of flexible material covering one face of the bat, the other face of the bat being rough and villous.

15. Artificial bufiing leather consisting solely of a sheet of solidified dressing having a thin stratum of uns pun fibers adhering to one side only thereof, said stratum of fibers being impregnated with a binding adhesive' agent and having loose ends of fibers projecting from its outer surface.

16. Artificial bufling leather consisting solely of a thin sheet of vulcanized rubber having a thin layer of unspun cotton fibers adhering to and embedded in one side thereof, said fibrous layer being impregnated with a binding adhesive agent and having loose projecting ends of fibers making its outer surface rough.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 28th day of May, A. I). 1920.

ROLAND B. RESPESS. 

